Violent

There's a certain given about living in the USA. I haven't lived in other countries so I can't speak about that. But its a violent culture to be sure. There's a lot of fear in America. Racial tensions remain sharp, and violence against women is always present. Gays are attacked. My brother William who was gay, was jumped and mugged a couple of times in New York City because he was gay. He was a convenient target. He passed away two years ago, no need to worry about mugging anymore.

The point is that there is an ongoing sense of a need for self protection as we go about our business. We look at who is coming at us, we worry about it, its in the back of people's minds.

I know many women who were assaulted, a few who were raped. All men in America have similar knowledge. I would talk with an old friend back in the day. He would talk about his then present GF, he'd say she was raped when she was a teenager. I would think how horrible. It was something that was so common, either your girlfriend had been sexually assaulted or not, chances seemed about 50/50.

I knew many women as a college student, girlfriends who were assaulted in one way or another. One who was forced to perform oral sex when she was just a child of 10 years old. I'm sure her parents never knew about it.

There is that pervasive sometimes subtle fear of violence. You never know when you will be victimized. I had an excellent friend, a Yale student. He was shot dead in New Haven when he was about 20 years old. Probably could have been a senator he was so bright.

I want to tell you that the most violent American day of the past 6 years was on Tuesday October 17, 2006. Bush got final permission to throw away the right of Habeus Corpus as he sees fit and necessary. He also got permission to torture as he sees fit and necessary. No single act of violence that you and I know of comes close to this assault on freedom and democracy in a civilized society. We are at a low. We all know we are at a low but its getting lower. It can get worse. I suspect it will. Who would even imagine 6 years ago that our government would sign away a human legal right that has been in place for centuries. Well they did it, Tuesday October 17.

Its more violence. Violence breeds fear. Fear breeds violence. Are you that afraid of the terrorist that you are willing to sign away your rights under the Constitution?

Photo by Philippe DiFalco